Insanity
by FantazyFanatic217
Summary: A close friend of Thomas Lasky is selected for an "expirement". What happens when it starts to tear both of them apart? Lasky/OC
1. Prolog

Insanity

Prolog

Commander Lasky thumbed through her file.

_Name: Carson, Ashley_

_Sex: Female_

_Age:28_

_Eye color: Green_

_Hair color: Blonde_

_Height: 5'7"_

_Weight: 135 lbs_

_Rank: Lieutenant_

_Current commanding officer: Lasky, Thomas J._

_Notes: Intelligent, strong willed, great leader, stubborn at times._

"They sent us a list of 50 names. It had to be her that they choose." He whispered to himself. "It had to be her."

The doors to the bridge hissed open, Andrew Del Rio entering through them. "Did ONI make a decision yet?" He said. "Yes." Lasky answered half heartedly. "Ashley Carson."

"The Lieutenant from Gypsy Company?" Del Rio said in somewhat disbelief. Lasky handed him her approved file.

"They sent us a list of 50 names; I personally pulled their combat records. Most of them were potential SPARTANS, if not potential, they were in training." "I know." "Why the hell did they pick _her?_ She isn't fit for this."

"ONI wouldn't have picked her if they didn't think she was fit for it." Lasky leaned back in his chair, gritting his teeth. "She won't be able to handle something like this." Del Rio said again.

Lasky stood up, glaring daggers at the Captain. "Sir, I _know_ she'll do fine." The Captain still wasn't fazed. "Do you know the amount of stress this will put on her." "Yes." "The last time this was tested on a marine, it killed him. His body couldn't withstand the stress that it put on him."

"Sir…" Del Rio quickly interrupted him. "Commander, are you aware the Ms. Carson underwent training for the SPARTAN-III Program?" "Yes." "Are you aware that she was rejected, because she couldn't handle the training?"

Lasky sighed. "Yes."

"Now, what makes you think she can handle this?" Del Rio awaited an answer from the Commander, but never got one. He took a step and shoved Ashley's file into Lasky's chest. "ONI just put a stamp of approval on her death certificate." And without another word, left the bridge. Lasky was left there alone with nothing to do but think about what Del Rio said.

They could've picked a potential SPARTAN, someone with the training to handle something like this, someone who could withstand the stress placed on them by this. No, they picked a marine from Gypsy Company. A marine that Lasky not only knew, but was very close to. Perhaps a bit too close.

X

_Note: Short yes I know chapters will be longer. Review please!_


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Ashley picked at her food. She wasn't all that hungry. She kind of lost her appetite. Other things were on her mind right now that didn't exactly make food a priority.

"What's up Ashy?" And here comes the annoying friend of her's, Kelsey. "Oh hey Kel…" Ash didn't bother to look up from her tray. "What's wrong Ashy? Where's that raunchy attitude of yours?" Kel asked sitting down across the table from Ashley. She shrugged, not offering much of an answer. "What's bugging you Ash?" "It's not important Kels…" She thought back for a moment.

X

"_You uh, wanted to see me sir?" Ashley stepped into the bridge kind of timidly. Del Rio didn't allow Lasky a chance to speak. "Lieutenant, there's no real way of sugar coating this."_

_Ash swallowed hard. Those weren't exactly the most encouraging words. Did something happen? Did she do something wrong? Was she in trouble? A bunch of bad scenarios ran through her mind all at once. "ONI chose you for something very important. Call it an experiment." The captain said. "What?" What the hell was he talking about? "Scientist have developed and A.I." "Sir, I don't have the cybernetics that SPARTAN's do." _

"_We're well aware of that Lieutenant." The captain's eyes flashed to Lasky for a moment. Lasky glared back. "This A.I. doesn't need it." "I don't…" "The scientists giving the test will explain it better than I can. Your test begins tomorrow at 0700 sharp in the med bay. But for now, rest up, relax, and just take it easy. Dismissed."_

_As she was about to ask another question, Ashley was shooed off the bridge. One question was left burning in her mind. What the hell?_

X

"Hey Ashy wake up!" Kelsey snapped her fingers a couple of times in front of Ashley's face. She blinked a couple of times, snapping back into reality. "Thought I lost you there for a second." Kel smiled. "Oh I was just thinking about something." "About what?" "Nothing important." Ashley tried to wave off the subject but Kelsey wasn't having it. Ash stabbed her fork at the piece of meat of her tray, and shoveled a chunk in her mouth. She couldn't tell if it was steak or week old chicken, she couldn't tell the difference.

"It's about Lasky isn't it?" It appeared that Kelsey struck a nerve. Ashley spit the half chew chunk of mystery meat back onto her tray almost choking on it. "What?" Her face turned red.

"You heard me? You were thinking about a certain commander weren't you?" "No! I wasn't!" "Is there something going on between you two I should know about?" "Absolutely not!" Kel arched an eyebrow, her lips twisting into a devilish smirk

"Aw come on Ashy, I saw you two chatting the other day. He started blushing…" "Kels!" "He was probably thinking about you two together, what it would be like if you two kissed." "Kelsey I'm warning you!" "Probably thinking about all the dirty stuff he'd do to you if he got you alone." "KELSEY!"

Ashley threw her fork at her friend, her face red as a tomato. "There's nothing going on between me and him! Nothing! No thing! Got it?" "You wish there was." "Kelsey! I'm going to hurt you!"

Kel stuck her tongue out at Ash, she did the same.

Ashley then felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up. Who? Lasky. "Oh uh hi To- Sir." She caught herself. In front of others he was to be addressed as sir. When it was just friend to friend, then she could call him by name. "No need for formalities, do you mind if I speak to you for a moment." He said.

Ash glanced back at Kel who was grinning from ear to ear looking like she was going to say something sarcastic or vulgar, probably both. She shot her the "I swear to god if you don't shut the fuck I'll murder you in your sleep" look. Kel kept her mouth shut.

"Sure." Ashley answered. She stood up dumping her full tray of food in the trash and walking with him.

"What were you two talking about?" "Nothing important." She answered quickly. She was sure Kel still had that stupid grin on her face, so she slid her arm behind her back and gracefully flipped her the bird. She heard Kelsey laugh after a moment.

X

_Note: And here comes the raunchy, perverted, asshole friend. Enjoy!_


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Once they were out in the hallway, Ash asked, "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?" "It's about this whole… "experiment" thing." Lasky said rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Ashley felt her mouth run dry. "I hope you can explain this bullshit better than the Captain. Cause I have no fucking idea what's going on."

"I tried to earlier; the Captain didn't give me a chance to. And he's trying to pull that "I don't know much about it" shit." He said. Ash leaned back against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest. "The captain's been keeping me in the dark too, Ash." "Well what do you know?"

"ONI sent us a list of fifty names, we pulled their combat records. Most were either SPARTANs in training or active SPARTANs. I think there were only four or five names that were standard marines." Lasky explained. "Well if this… _thing_ doesn't need cybernetics to function, then that would explain why the SPARTAN's already implanted with it would get knocked of the list." Ash said. "Was this tested on anyone else before?" The million dollar question that Lasky didn't want to answer. There was a brief moment of uneasy silence. He swallowed hard before he answered her.

"A few times, yes. ONI wasn't exactly happy with the results of it though." He sighed. "Why not?" Ashley asked. Once again Lasky hesitated in answering her. "There were times where they couldn't handle the amount of stress it put on them and they just shut down."

She choked. "They… _died?_" It seemed like she had to force that final word out of her throat.. Lasky sadly nodded. Her stomach churned, her heart leaping into my throat. Fear showed in her grassy green eyes. "Oh god…" Her back pressed against the wall as she slid down to the floor. She hugged her legs close to her chest and brought her forehead to her knees. ONI stamped an approval on her death. She was going to die. She was going to _die_.

Lasky had never seen her like this before. She just broke down entirely. He mentally kicked himself, seeing the way he reacted. He crouched down to her level. "Ash, there were a few that pulled through." He said. Her teary green eyes looked up at him. His jaw tightened. "What happened to them?" "I don't know Ash; I'd have to look it up. But not everyone who was given this A.I. died." He kept a straight face even though he was lying through his teeth to her. And he immediately felt guilty about it. "Come on Ash." He held out a hand to help her up. "Try not to think about it before tomorrow." He said as he helped to her feet.

X

Lasky went back to his personal quarters after talking to Ashley. He still felt guilty about lying to her, but he didn't want to think about how she would've reacted if he had told her that everyone who was involved in this experiment was dead. It killed him to watch the pain in her eyes.

He sat down at the edge of his bed, running his fingers through his hair. Part of him wanted to believe that he didn't truly lie. He really want to know what the results were of these experiments, that's if they weren't already painted red with ONI sensors. So he reached for the tablet that was on his night stand and switched it on.

Lasky flipped through the records, seeing if he could dig up any additional information about this A.I ONI was testing. This A.I was tested on a total of 6 other people. The first one test was a SPARTAN, a SPARTAN III to be exact. He was fully implanted with SPARTAN augmentations and the cybernetics to fit an A.I. Most of the data was filed with ONI sensors, he couldn't get a name or if he died or not. But from what he could pick through, the A.I. reacted violently with both the cybernetics and the SPARTAN augmentation. The cybernetics fried almost instantly, his vitals took an immediate nose dive. It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened after that.

The next 2 resulted in the same outcome, also packed full of ONI sensors. After that it looked like they stopped making changes to the A.I. and started making changes to who would be carrying it. For this one a marine was chosen.

_Name: May Anders_

_Sex: Female_

_Age: 22_

_Rank: Corporal_

_Commanding officer: No information available_

_Notes: Reacted well to the A.I. No sign of rejection or scarring. Vitals leveled out._

Ok, no issue there.

_Showing an increase in muscle mass. Areas of the brain controlling survival and protective instinct were aggressively simulated._

Lasky jumped ahead and pulled the files a couple weeks after she was implanted with the A.I.

_Showing signs of mental instability._

What? He felt his heart leap into his throat as he continued to read.

_Complaining of voices in her head and hallucinations, refuses to undergo combat training. Early stage schizophrenia beginning to show. Areas of the brain controlling logical thinking and decision making have begun to die. Other areas controlling imagination, survival instinct or "fight or flight" and aggression have been severely over stimulated. _

Dare he read on?

_Becoming violently unstable. Refuses medication. Threatening suicidal action. Lashed out at several medics, killing three and disfiguringly injuring another. Condition both mentally and physically severally deteriorated. Drastic measures will be taken._

Her file ended there. His stomach churned as he processed what he just read. He tossed the tablet onto his bed as he stood up once again. He paced back and forth. He didn't want to imagine Ashley begin put through this. She wasn't meant to be some animal for ONI to pump full of chemicals and poke at. "Fuck!" He punched the wall as hard as he could, hoping it would provide some kind of relief to his anger. He felt his knuckles crack under the force. He didn't want to see his friend butchered, poked and prodded at as an ONI test dummy. He didn't want to see her in a body bag or in a straight jacket, in a padded room; incoherent and unable do something as simple as think. It actually brought tears to his eyes.

"Uh… is this a bad time?"

His eyes darted to the doorway, Sarah Palmer stood there, eyes thick with worry. "How much of that did you see?" Lasky said wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "Enough." She answered, taking a step inside. "It's about Ashley isn't it?" "How do you know about that?"

"I was uh… trainer for some of the others that were tested on." Sarah said half heartedly. "I was told I'd be helping Ashley once she was implanted." Lasky could force the words out of his throat to answer her. "I can understand your upset about it. You've known her for a long time. I can tell you're really close to her." He still didn't answer.

"I can't sugar coat it, it's not the most desirable thing to go through. But Ashley's a strong women, she'll pull through it."

X

_Note: Depressing chapter :( Please review!_


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